I have been back and forth with this bird. I just cannot get over the heavy barring on the wings. No Broad-winged wears this plumage. In the middle photograph I see a hint of rufous on the shoulder. These are two indicators of a Red-shouldered Hawk. The dark malar area can also occur with a RSHA. The light above and below the eye also look like RSHA. I agree those thicker chest streaks are BWHA-like, but RSHA sometimes have them. That barring on the secondaries, however, just isn't a BWHA mark. In fact, the wing barring is a pretty good indicator to make a distinction between these two similar species- a RSHA has them, a BWHA doesn't. Therefore, I am nearly certain this is a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk.

One dog dies last year and I believe the other did this year. Maybe she just got tired of them and gave them up. It has been quite quiet around here, neighbors have commented on it. As for moving should she replace them, I inherited the house I grew up in. My mother designed it, my father built it. There are over 400 specific plants in the gardens and there is just too much sentimentality involved, not to mention that I am a bit old to be relocating. For now, her hedges have thickened and grown tall enough that all anyone sees is a nice green backdrop for my gardens. You would not even know there was a house in there. It is very unfortunate because the house has an excellent picture window that used to overlook the valley. Last summer, in the only patch of sun filled area in her yard, she had a lawn chair out and was sunning herself. I could only see her through a bathroom window and she looked like the proverbial beached whale. I pulled the curtains to stop from laughing. The dogs are just a memory now....

Well, the GC told me he could get me in my house by Thanksgiving this year (he started last April), but I didn't quite expect this to happen, and it didn't. I figure I should be in by March... I'd also hoped to order a heirloom turkey (small) through Whole Foods -- more flavor and better dark to white meat ratio, and it would only be a once a year at the very most splurge. Then I broke the leg, and decided manhandling a turkey in and out of the oven was going to be a bad idea, even if it were small. BUT I am thankful that my house IS coming along, and that me and GC still get along, and that I'll be retiring sometime the first half of 2016, and that I now have my first ever great-nephew - who, unfortunately lives in Florida so I haven't seen him in person yet -- I probably won't meet him until early-mid-spring now. But I am grateful he's around and he looks a lot like my brother! I'm thankful for the wonderful people who've been helping me and dropping off Asian (and other) dishes, and taking me to the doctors when I need to go, and dealing with kitty litter... I was able to make myself an excellent braised turkey thigh recipe, and I stuffed some delicate squash with a sweet potato / cranberry / apple mixture -- and I didn't have to decline any desserts because I didn't make any! I hope everybody has had, and is still having, a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Shawlin, That happened to us, except it was on a 10 hour trip and we were about halfway there before it started, and it was during a Christmas holiday. We had to stop at a gas station after our toddler had thrown up yet again, but this time it was on her pillow... she was trying to keep the puke from dropping off the pillow, but then we hit a bump and SPLAT! Now she was covered in puke, it was dripping off her hair. Hubby asked the gas station attendants to bring out the hose and while he sprayed down her car seat, I took her into the bathroom and tried to wash her hair in a gas station bathroom sink... you know the kind where the faucet is really short and the sink is small? By the time I came out of the restroom the nice gas station employees had coned off the area with yellow caution tape. I felt SO BAD for the mess, I was apologizing profusely, and they were SO NICE. I can't even recall what state we were in by then... it was a nightmare. During the family reunion, there were about 20 of us, and only me and one of my sister in laws stayed healthy through the whole reunion (we weren't the only family who came in sick) and we spent the every day cleaning with bleach. LOL! We actually all have a lot of great memories from that trip though... we can all laugh about it now.